President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday appeared to support calls for a shake-up in the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) legislative caucus, as adjustments are made to the Cabinet and party leadership following the failure of the recall targeting opposition lawmakers.
It is time for a reshuffle to more efficiently implement policies and conform to the wishes of society, Lai said after addressing the opening of the Asian-Pacific Parliamentarians’ Union general assembly in Taipei.
“After the recall votes, we have heard many voices calling for an internal review to scrutinize DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘),” he said. “We also have party members petitioning to make changes to the caucus.”
Photo: Taipei Times
Apart from changes in the administration, adjustments are also needed within the party and in the Legislative Yuan, he said.
One new appointment was Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) as new DPP secretary-general.
Lai said the reshuffle “would conform to the expectation of the public if our party’s caucus would also make changes.”
He appeared to imply that Ker should step down as caucus whip, which he has so far refused to do.
“It is the majority view of our fellow legislators that change is needed for our party’s caucus,” DPP Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said last night. “We believe that Ker has the wealth of experience to make a wise decision.”
However, DPP Legislator Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺), in a show of support for Ker, said that the party must not put the blame on one person.
Ker deserves the respect of all party members, she said, vowing not to sign any petition calling for the removal of Ker as caucus whip.
Media reports said that Hsu, during an internal party meeting, relayed guidance from Lai that a change was needed for the caucus, and allegedly asked Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) to meet with Ker yesterday.
If Hsu does not get the desired result, he would initiate a petition, reports said.
The petition would allegedly urge the party caucus to make adjustments and change personnel to face challenges in the upcoming legislative session, which starts next week, to show that the party takes reform seriously.
Meanwhile, local DPP councilors yesterday presented a five-point action plan to Lai, calling on the administration to ensure a functioning Constitutional Court, safeguard Taiwan’s economic security, promote new green energy, revamp jurisdictions and budget allocation, and push for internal party reform.
In a joint statement, 17 city and county councilors requested that Lai “face the current political crisis in the aftermath of the failure of the mass recall movement.”
“It is now time to rejuvenate the party through reform, to take on a new direction and new policies,” the statement said. “There are reasons why citizen groups launched the recalls — to overcome the Constitutional Court crisis, political turmoil in the legislature and the slashing of budgets.”
“The recall vote outcome came as an earthquake to shake up the DPP, which could be followed by a tsunami,” it said. “We ask President Lai to face this political crisis in earnest.”
The councilors urged that Lai ensure the separation of powers between the government’s three main branches.
“The Constitutional Court cannot function now, but we must put an end to it soon. We sincerely ask all political parties to deliberate and negotiate by all means to reach an agreement,” they said.
They also urged the government to ensure “economic security” for Taiwan.
The nation must secure its role in global supply chains and crack down on intellectual property rights contraventions, product origin washing and financial scams, they said.
The councilors also called on the government to provide housing subsidies and address real-estate speculation “for all citizens to have fulfilling and dignified ways of living.”
They also urged the government to further promote green energy by pursuing new energy sources.
“Taiwan had financial scandals relating to building nuclear power plants, and now we have similar corruption in the green energy sector,” they said, calling on officials to root out corruption in those projects.
They also recommended focusing on new technologies, including geothermal power and investing in nuclear fusion.
They suggested revamping jurisdictions and budget allocations for the central and local governments, given the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法).
“Local governments should take up a greater portion of revenues, while also taking on more responsibility,” they said.
The councilors also suggested redrawing regional maps through a series of national conferences for more fairness, including drawing new boundaries or merging cities, counties and townships.
Lastly, they urged Lai to institute party reform while improving dialogue with society to put an end to the bureaucratic culture within the DPP, in which top officials do not hear from the bottom levels.
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